Remote control for operating vehicle door latches

ABSTRACT

An automobile has a body the passenger compartment of which is provided with a front seat and a rear seat. At least one front door and one back are provided affording access to the front and rear seat, respectively. A partition is located intermediate and separates the front seat from the rear seat. Latch means is located rearwardly of the partition movable between a first and second position in which it respectively locks and unlocks the rear door. Remote control means is provided including one portion which engages the latch means and another portion which is located forwardly of the partition and which cooperates with the one portion, being engageable by a person in the front seat so that the latch means for the rear door can be moved between its first and second positions by remote control from the front seat.

[ 1 Sept.5, 1972 VEHICLE DOORLATCHES Primary Examiner-Benjamin Hersh 4Assistant Examiner-John A. Pekar Pedro Baez Sosa New YorkAttorney-Michael S. Striker [73] Assignee: Efficient InstrumentsCorporation,

Long Island City, NY. [57] ABSTRACT March 29, 1971 An automobile has abody the passenger compartment of which is provided with a front seatand a rear seat.

At least one front door and one back are provided affording access tothe front and rear seat, respectively. 196/146, 292/] A partition islocated intermediate and separates the 3 0 5 04 front seat from the rearseat. Latch means is located 29 /14 24 292 1 33 3; rearwardly of thepartition movable between a first 49 357 0 180/112, 113 and secondposition in which it respectively locks and unlocks the rear door.Remote control means is pro- Referemes Cited vided including one portionwhich engages the latch means and another portion which is locatedforwardly UNITED STATES PATENTS of the partition and which cooperateswith the one portion, being engageable by a person in the front seat sothat the latch means for the rear door can be moved between its firstand second positions by remote control from the front seat.

United States Patent Sosa s4] REMOTE CONTROL FOR OPERATING [72]Inventor:

221 Filed:

[21] Appl.No.: 128,929

[58] FieldofSearch....

10 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures R R Ma n/0H4 92 /2 2/30/ 6 6 "am-I19 m Ma mU I mos "Mm i. m e m omum 70730 57667 99999 1111 ////l 62542 1 l 5 777935 69747 94 004 23333 PATENTEDSEP 51912 3. 689,1 1s

INVENTOR Pena Mew. San BY 414a l/PL.

ATTORN EY REMOTE CONTROL FOR OPERATING VEHICLE I DOOR LATCI-IESBACKGROUND or THE INVENTION The provision of latches on automobiledoors, to

lock the doors or, putting it another way, to disable the handle of thedoor so as to .prevent unintentional opening of the door for instancewhen the vehicle is in motion, is already well known. Such devices aremost commonly in form of pushbuttons which can be raised to unlatch themechanism and which are depressed to latch the mechanism and lock thedoor against unintentional opening. Unfortunately, although such devicesare provided as a matter of routine on all passenger automobiles, theyare frequently not used by the passengers. This means that the safetypotentially afi'orded the passenger by the provision of thehandle-disabling latch means has been wasted by the lack of motivationto utilize it.

This is a problem which is particularly prevalent in taxicabs wherepassengers very rarely think to use the latch means provided, but wherethe cab driver may under certain circumstances be held responsible forthe lack of utilization of this safety device, the reasoning being thatthe device is a part of his vehicle and that it is his responsibility tosee that it is used. But the recent trend towards installing partitionsbetween the front seat and the rear seat, to protect the driver from thepossibility of attack by a passenger seeking to take his money, theopportunities available to a cab driver to see to it that the vehiclesafety latches are used have become even more restricted. In fact, it isnow not possible at all to operate these safety latches himself withouthaving to leave the cab, instruct a passenger to roll down the rearwindow, operate the latch, have the passenger roll up the rear windowagain and resume his position behind the wheel of the vehicle. Obviouslythis is not feasible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, accordingly, an object of the presentinvention to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages.

More particularly it is an object of the invention to provide anarrangement by means of which the person or persons in the front seat ofa passenger vehicle can, by remote control, operate safety latches onthe rear door or doors of the vehicle.

A concomitant object of the invention is to provide such an arrangementwhich is particularly suitable for use on taxicabs, although its use isby no means intended to be restricted to such an application.

Still another object of the invention is to provide such an arrangementwhich is simple and therefore inexpensive to construct and install, andwhich is reliable in its operation.

In pursuance of the above objects, and others which will become apparenthereafter, one feature of the invention resides, briefly stated, in anautomobile body having a passenger compartment provided with a frontseat and rear seat. At least one front door and one back door areprovided which respectively afford access to the front seat and the rearseat. A partition is located intermediate and separates the front seatfrom the rear seat and latch means is located rearwardly of thepartition and is movable between a first and a second position in whichit respectively locks and unlocks the rear door. Finally, I provideremote control means which includesone portion which engages the latchmeans and another portion forwardly of the partition and cooperatingwith the one portion. The other portion is movable between one and another position in which the one portion moves the latch means to thefirst and second positions thereof, respectively.

The novel features of the invention which are considered ascharacteristic of the invention are set forth in particular in theappended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to itsconstruction and its method of operation, together with additionalobjects and ad vantages thereof, will be best understood from thefollowing description of specific embodiments when read in connectionwith the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspectiveillustrating a vehicle provided with my invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged perspective detail view of portions ofFIG. 1, showing the invention in detail; and

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective illustrating the constituentcomponents of my arrangement.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing firstly-FIG. 1 itwill be seen that I have there illustrated diagrammatically anautomobile I having a body 2 provided with a passenger compartment 2'.The passenger compartment has a front seat and a rear seat (not shown)with a front door 3 affording access to the front seat and a rear door 4affording access to the rear seat. Of course normally such an automobilewill have two front doors 3, one located at either side, and similarlytwo back doors 4 again one located at either side. This will beunderstood without a specific illustration.

In FIG. 2 I have illustrated the front seat and a lateral pillar 5 whichis located between the front doors and the rear doors, that is the frontdoor 3 and the rear door 4 on each side. The front seat 6 is separatedfrom the non-illustrated rear seat by a partition 7 which may beapertured as shown, and which is installed-it being assumed that theinvention is explained by means of its use on a taxicab-to preventaccess of a passenger to the driver in the front seat.

In conventional manner the rear door 4 shown (and this is of course trueof both rear doors usually) is provided with a latch button 8 which canbe raised and lowered as indicated by the double-headed arrow 12.However, in accordance with the present invention the conventional latchbutton, which has a stem and a single top flange, is replaced with theillustrated latch button which has a stem 9 and two vertically spacedtransverse flanges 10 and 11. Such latch buttons are usually threadedonto a threaded actuating rod located within the door and accessiblethrough an opening provided for this purpose, and the latch button 8according to the present invention can be substituted for the oneconventionally provided by unscrewing the one which is normally providedand replacing it with the latch button 8.

'Mounted on the pillar 5 is a bracket 13 which is screwed or otherwisesecured to the pillar 5 and has a hollow tubular portion as illustrated.However it is also possible to journal or stationarily mounted withinthe hollow tubular portion shown a separate tubular portion 14a such asis shown in FIG. 3. In any case, there is provided displacing means herein form of an elongated angled first arm, 14 a portion of which extendsthrough the tubular portion 13 and/or 13a, and an angled portion 15 ofwhich engages between the flanges l and 11 of the latch button 8. Thefirst arm portion 14 of course is now tumable about the longitudinalaxis of the tubular portion 13 and/or 13a, that is about a substantiallyhorizontal axis.

That portion of the first arm 14 which projects beyond the tubularportion 13 and/or 13a is engaged by activating means in form of a secondangled-arm 16 a portion 16a of which is bent so as to extend at adesired angle, usually normal to the remainder of the arm. The arm 16 isconnected to the arm 14 by means of the nuts 17, 17a or, if desired, inanother suitable manner. The arm 16, 16a is located in its entiretyforwardly of the partition 7, that is at the side of the partition 7which is visible from the front seat 6, and it will be understood thatthe partition 7 will normally extend across the entire width of thevehicle from one of the pillars to the opposite pillar 5. The arm 16,16a can be moved in the direction of the double-headed arrow 18 bygripping the portion 16a and turning the arm about the horizontal axisdefined by the longitudinal axis of the portions 13 and/or 13a, wherebythe arm l4, 15 will similarly move and, in so doing, will urge the latchbutton 8 upwardly in the direction of the arrow 12 when the arm 16, 16ais moved towards the right in FIG. 2, and downwardly in the direction ofthe arrow 12 when the arm 16, 16a is moved towards the left in FIG. 2.In so doing it either engages the flange 1 l or the flange 10, tothereby effect such movement of the latch button 8. The spring 19, shownin FIG. 3, cooperates with the arm 16, 16a and the arm 14, 15 in a senseurging them to a position in which the portion 15 of the arm 14, 15 willalways abut against the stem of the latch button 8, intermediate theflanges 10 and 11 in the manner illustrated. The portion 15 is providedwith a recess 15a as shown in FIG. 3 to facilitate this permanentengagement. A portion 14a of the arm 14 is of polygonal cross-sectionalconfiguration and extends through a similarly configurated cut-out 16bof the arm 16 to connect the arm 16, 16a with the arm 14', 15 for jointmovement. The portion 14a is advantageously externally screw-threaded sothat the nuts 17a and cap nut 17 can mesh therewith and thereby connectthe two arms with one another in the manner shown in FIG. 2.

It will be appreciated that it is now a simple matter for a person inthe front seat of the vehicle, for instance the driver of a taxicab, tolock the rear door or doors of his vehicle against undesired andunintentional opening simply by turning the arm 16, 16a in the requisitesense. Arrived at his destination, the driver can then unlock the doorsin the same manner by turning the arm 16, 16a in the opposite direction.Similarly, in circumstances where the driver may be confronted with apotential passenger who appears suspicious, that is whom he suspects ofintending to attack him once entry to the vehicle is gained, the drivercan bar such entry by locking the rear doors from his seat by remotecontrol in the manner already discussed.

The potential benefits in terms of increased passenger safety and, undercertain circumstances, increased safety for the driver will be clearlyevident without further elaboration.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together, may also find a useful application in other types ofconstructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in aremote control for vehicle door latches, it is not intended to belimited to the details shown, since various modifications and structuralchanges may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of thepresent invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthe present invention that others can by applying current knowledgereadily adapt it for various applications without omitting features thatfrom the standpoint of prior art fairly constitute, essentialcharacteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this inventionand, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to becomprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent isset forth in the appended claims:

1. In an automobile, in combination,

a body having a passenger compartment provided with a front seat and arear seat;

at least one front door and one back door affording access to said frontseat and said rear seat, respectively said back door. being movablebetween a closed and an open position;

a partition intermediate and separating said front seat from said rearseat; latch means provided on said back door and movable between a firstand a second position in which it respectively locks and unlocks saidback door; and

remote control means including displacing means for displacing saidlatch means, said displacing means projecting into the path of saidlatch means and cooperating with the same when said back door at leastapproaches said closed position thereof, and activating means providedforwardly of said partition and cooperating with said displacing means,said activating means being movable between one and an other position inwhich said displacing means move said latch means to said first andsecond positions thereof, respectively, said latch means and saiddisplacing means being in operative association only when said back doorat least approaches said closed position.

2. A combination as defined in claim 1, said latch means beingdisengaged from said displacing means when said back door is open.

3. In an automobile as defined in claim 1, wherein said latch meanscomprises a latching button movable vertically between said first andsecond positions thereof.

4. In an automobile as defined in claim 3, wherein said remote controlmeans comprises a tubular portion extending from rearwardly to forwardlyof said partition and being stationarily mounted, an angled first armconstituting said displacing means engaging said latch means and in partextending through and beyond said tubular portion, and an angled secondarm constituting said activating means and being fast with said firstarm where the same extends beyond said tubular portion.

5. In an automobile as defined in claim 4; and further comprising springmeans permanently urging said first arm into engagement with said latchmeans.

6. In an automobile as defined in claim 5, wherein said latching buttonhas an upright stem and a pair of vertically spaced flanges extendingtransversely of said stem; and wherein said first arm has one endportion engaging said stem intermediate said flanges.

7. In an automobile as defined in claim 6, said tubular portion having asubstantially horizontally oriented longitudinal axis, and said firstarm having an other end portion angled with respect to said one endportion and being tumable about said axis with concomitant dis placementof said one end portion in a sense engaging a respective one of saidflanges for displacing said button between said positions thereof, independence upon the direction of turning movement of said other endportion about said axis.

8. In an automobile as defined in claim 7, wherein said other endportion has a section projecting beyond said tubular portion forwardlyof said partition and being of polygonal cross-section; and wherein saidsecond arm is provided with a mating aperture of polygonal cross-sectionreceiving said section.

9. In an automobile as defined in claim 8; and further comprisingreleasable connecting means connecting said section with said secondarm.

10. In an automobile as defined in claim 9, wherein said releasableconnecting means comprises nut means.

1. In an automobile, in combination, a body having a passengercompartment provided with a front seat and a rear seat; at least onefront door and one back door affording access to said front seat andsaid rear seat, respectively said back door being movable between aclosed and an open position; a partition intermediate and separatingsaid front seat from said rear seat; latch means provided on said backdoor and movable between a first and a second position in which itrespectively locks and unlocks said back door; and remote control meansincluding displacing means for displacing said latch means, saiddisplacing means projecting into the path of said latch means andcooperating with the same when said back door at least approaches saidclosed position thereof, and activating means provided forwardly of saidpartition and cooperating with said displacing means, said activatingmeans being movable between one and an other position in which saiddisplacing means move said latch means to said first and secondpositions thereof, respectively, said latch means and said displacingmeans being in operative association only when said back door at leastapproaches said closed position.
 2. A combination as defined in claim 1,said latch means being disengaged from said displacing means when saidback door is open.
 3. In an automobile as defined in claim 1, whereinsaid latch means comprises a latching button movable vertically betweensaid first and second positions thereof.
 4. In an automobile as definedin claim 3, wherein said remote control means comprises a tubularportion extending from rearwardly to forwardly of said partition andbeing stationarily mounted, an angled first arm constituting saiddisplacing means engaging said latch means and in part extending throughand beyond said tubular portion, and an angled second arm constitutingsaid activating means and being fast with said first arm where the sameextends beyond said tubular portion.
 5. In an automobile as defined inclaim 4; and further comprising spring means permanently urging saidfirst arm into engagement with said latch means.
 6. In an automobile asdefined in claim 5, wherein said latching button has an upright stem anda pair of vertically spaced flanges extending transversely of said stem;and wherein said first arm has one end portion engaging said stemintermediate said flanges.
 7. In an automobile as defined in claim 6,said tubular portion having a substantially horizontally orientedlongitudinal axis, and said first arm having an other end portion angledwith respect to said one end portion and being turnable about said axiswith concomitant displacement of said one end portion in a senseengaging a respective one of said flanges for displacing said buttonbetween said positions thereof, in dependence upon the direction ofturning movement of said other end portion about said axis.
 8. In anautomobile as defined in claim 7, wherein said other end portion has asection projecting beyond said tubular portion forwardly of saidpartition and being of polygoNal cross-section; and wherein said secondarm is provided with a mating aperture of polygonal cross-sectionreceiving said section.
 9. In an automobile as defined in claim 8; andfurther comprising releasable connecting means connecting said sectionwith said second arm.
 10. In an automobile as defined in claim 9,wherein said releasable connecting means comprises nut means.